MINGORA: Five school students drowned and two others were rescued in injured condition after a chairlift cable snapped and the chairlift plunged into the Swat River in the Paleer area of Kalam tehsil on Saturday.

According to locals, seven school students were riding the locally-made chairlift to cross the river when its cable snapped. The students fell into the river.

People rushed to the spot and started looking for the students. They rescued two students, Amir Sayed and Ikramuddin, and recovered the bodies of Shaukat and Sher Azam. Search for the other three — Amjad Ali, Saeedur Rehman and Bakht-i-Azam — was under way, said a local.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2017